Learning About the Law of Attraction

You’ve heard of the law of attraction, but you don’t know enough about it to explain it to someone. So, what is the law of attraction? Essentially, it is a reference to the belief that if you focus positive thoughts on something, you can bring about positive results. On the other hand, if you focus negative thoughts on something, you can bring about negative results. Here are the basics on the law of attraction.

Making Sense of the Law of Attraction by Example

The law of attraction is better understood by way of a clear example. Since the law boils down to positive belief yields positive result, it can be explained in this way. Let’s say that you got an envelope in the mail, yet you didn’t know who sent it or what it could be. Let’s say that you adopted an arguably positive attitude and, before opening the envelope, believed that it would contain a check made out in your name. The law would actualize your belief and show you a check upon the opening of the envelope. If, however, you adopted an arguably negative attitude and thought a bill would be in the envelope, the law would verify that belief by showing you a bill when you opened the envelope.

The History of the Law of Attraction

The law of attraction seems to have its roots in the New Thought Movement, which was a movement that began in the early part of the 19th century. One of the earliest promoters of the concept of the law of attraction was a man named Thomas Troward, who was extremely influential in the New Thought Movement. The American pioneer of the New Thought Movement and occultist called William Walker Atkinson prominently used the phrase “law of attraction” in his tome, “Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World.”

What Does Science Think About the Law of Attraction?

Not surprisingly, the field of science is quite unimpressed with the law of attraction, mainly because there is absolutely no scientific evidence that has been gathered to support this controversial idea. For example, the well-known debunking magazine called Skeptical Inquirer disparaged the claims behind the law of attraction as being not falsifiable. Many critics of the law of attraction also argue that the evidence for the law is simply based upon anecdotes and hindsight bias. Even though the concept of the law of attraction has been popularized lately by books such as “The Secret,” a lot of people still question the concept’s references to modern scientific theory.

The law of attraction has ironically attracted a lot of controversy to its belief and its adherents. Of course, this is a great way to bring attention to it, and people who have marketed books based on this belief – such as “The Secret” – have made a lot of money off of it. This belief continues to be quite popular in some circles, even though it has no scientific basis. That is why it is constantly criticized by its skeptical detractors.